David on 25/7/2009 at 19:07
It was very nasty - as soon as the replays started playing you could tell it was bad as, while he managed to stamp on the brakes, he wasn't conscious enough to take his right foot off the accelerator.
This is what it did to him: (not especially pretty) (
http://starbucks.mirror.waffleimages.com/files/d1/d1777bd32a2ae09827b38e538aa3de58b2987fe1.jpg)
I follow a lot of F1 people on Twitter and get a lot of stuff that never hit the news sites. Ross Brawn confirmed to the F1 Editor of Autosport that the object that hit Massa was an
800 gram spring from the rear suspenson of RB's car while he was travelling at 170mph.
He's lucky to be alive.
I'd be surprised to see him racing again this season and, depending on the surgery required, ever again. Insurance companies won't touch him with a barge pole if he's had brain surgery.
On another note, he certainly won't be racing tomorrow. Will Ferrari field one of their test drivers, Luca Badoer or Marc Gene? If he's out for the rest of the season then I there is the potential for Fernando Alonso to be bought out of his Renault contract early, as many expect he is headed then for 2010. Alternatively a long absence could pave the way for the short-live return of one Michael Shumacher. I would quite like to see what he could do with that car, given the results so far.
R Soul on 25/7/2009 at 19:49
800 grams, that's nearly 2lbs. That's like being hit by a large tub of butter, except with the weight being focussed on a smaller area. Factor in the speed and the helmet really did it's job.
Matthew on 27/7/2009 at 11:37
Quote Posted by David
I'd be surprised to see him racing again this season and, depending on the surgery required, ever again. Insurance companies won't touch him with a barge pole if he's had brain surgery.
So far I believe he's been able to get away without brain surgery itself, though of course he has a severely cracked skull.
David on 27/7/2009 at 18:31
Yeah, so far it's just been on the broken bones. In conjuction to the eye socket damage he seems to have received a basal skull fracture, which in serious cases (such as a +5G car crash) often results in death, so he's been pretty lucky.
There's a good (
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77383) article on Autosport that's just gone up, which suggests he will make a full recovery, although his race career is yet unknown.
The Alonso incident was ridiculous, and whilst the punishment the FIA have doled out (suspended from the next race in Valencia, one of two Grand Prix in Spain - Alonso's home country) seems justified. The team were well aware that Alonso had been released with a wheel faring that wasn't put on properly. Due to the way the fairings are attached, an unclipped one would, and did, simply unscrew the wheelnut. The team were massively negligent in letting him drive round with a wheel they *knew* would come off before he made it round to the pits again, and just 6 days after a young racing driver was killed by an errant wheel.
This could make way for Alonso to Ferrari far sooner than anyone anticipated.
Matthew on 28/7/2009 at 10:19
I believe the team radio chatter makes it clear they didn't even tell Alonso about the problem with the faring?
David on 28/7/2009 at 10:23
Yup, that's unbelievably true. I don't see how that's even possible. There's not a massive amount of steps required to tell the driver. The wheelman tells the chief mechanic, the chief mechanic tells the race engineer, the race engineer tells the driver.
And it didn't happen. Stupid idiots.
nickie on 30/7/2009 at 15:56
Quote Posted by quinch
I stopped watching cricket when ECB sold to Sky.
Looks like the (
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/8175982.stm) BBC is trying to get some cricket back on free-to-air telly in the UK. First Government review since 1998 apparently.
